Some people are trying to divide society on the basis of caste and religion but Indian civilisation always overcame such challenges, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday while inaugurating a seven-day long ‘Sri Ramakrishna Vachanamrita Satram’ via video conferencing.
“Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings are relevant to us today, when we are confronted with people who use religion, caste to divide and create animosity,” Mr. Modi said.
“Our civilisation stands tall, overcoming obstacles and whenever the history of human civilisation entered into the era of knowledge, it is India that has always shown the way,” he said.
“Sri Ramakrishna broke the mental barriers that kept us apart. He lived the Muslim way of life, he lived the Christian way of life, he practised tantra. The reality is one and the same... the difference is in name and form,” he said.
Lauds Sri Narayana Guru
Mr. Modi also lauded the role of social reformer Sri Narayana Guru in transforming Kerala. “Our saints did things that may seem seemingly small but the impact was very big and this altered the course of our history.” Saints integrated every citizen in their quest for social reform and nobody was left outside the ambit.
“A false perception was created about India that it needed social, political and economic reform initiated by outsiders. India’s soil is that soil from where change has always originated,” he said.
India’s oral tradition has evolved constantly to adapt to changing times and circumstances, keeping the eternal values intact. “To reach the common people, there was a need to make dharma, or right living, more accessible, closer to their daily lives.”
Saints used music, poetry and local languages to bring God closer to people and they broke barriers of caste, class, religion and gender, Mr. Modi noted.
